Cold weather function checking

[JoeZ]

A low of -20 F (around here) at sunrise is promised for tomorrow. This is your chance to test if your gear, lube, and clothing is up to the task. A few of us here will pick the coldest day of the year and leave our rifles and ammo outside all night and shoot an AQT in the morning. We had -15 F back in December but this one is going to be the coldest yet.

JoeZ

[ItsanSKS]

It is also an opportunity to test how well your optic holds up to sudden temperature swings.

The first time I ever went white tail hunting, my scope fogged up after taking the rifle out of the truck.  Thankfully I had, and knew how to use, iron sights on the rifle. 

Another consideration is the effect (or lack thereof) of these temperature swings on your ammo.  Some ammunition is more susceptible to this than others, and will show this by requiring different come-ups for distance shooting.  This change in point of impact due to temperature change isn't a big deal if you know about it and correct for it before taking the shot.  The only way to know how your rifle/ammo combination reacts to cold weather, is to get out in cold weather and shoot!


Good on ya JoeZ for taking the initiative and getting out there.  I'll be drinking a warm cup of coffee sitting by the fire, thinking of ya'll.  If it's any consolation, I've been there done that, and have the data in my book to prove it. 

If you don't write down the results of your experiment, a year from now you'll have no useful information, and have to do it all over again... 

[Polaris]

My PSL (Dragunov)works.  Central MN.  Dusted 2 coyotes at 440 yards according to the GPS this morning in the neighbor's hayfield.  First one crumpled, second one jumped a few feet then floundered in a snowdrift.  Bam, Bam, fur in the shed! Fired a 3rd round just to be sure he was down hard. SOBs been getting a bit friendly with the chicken coop lately.  Almost froze my fingers off when I got the snowmobile stuck going to pick them up though.

I've got a range stake at 300, 400 and 500 so I knew the aprox range but I surprised myself with the wind call.  I was expecting to fire the whole mag.

If you wanna shoot in the cold, frozen bucket blocks make very nice reactive targets! 

[Polaris]

My usual fur gun is a no-brainer bolt action and it gets a lot of service in extreme cold.  I keep the PSL in the barn this time of year as our coyotes have learned that the barn sometimes goes bang so the ones seen around the house are typically runners.  I educated a couple of them before I put out the range stakes.  Those critters learn fast.

Predator hunting is a great way to test your gear, shooting skills and sharpen your cold-weather fieldcraft.  I've found a lot of landowners that would chase you off at gunpoint for deer hunting welcome you in with open arms to plug coyotes.  After you grease a few vermin, they'll sometimes open up to regular hunting too!